Ski Touring New Zealandhttp://skitouring.co.nz
Inspiration for WinterTue, 26 Sep 2017 02:23:12 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.6Whale Stream – helicopter access from Glentannerhttp://skitouring.co.nz/whale-stream-helicopter-access-from-glentanner/
Tue, 26 Sep 2017 02:19:10 +0000http://skitouring.co.nz/?p=2435Read More]]>A fine ski tour, highly recommended, with lots of variety. Whale Stream lies directly behind Glentanner heli pad and is just quick flight to the top of the valley. There are 2 branches, the north and the south branches. They are connected by a fine couloir of about a thirty degree pitch. These two valleys lie under some quite spectacular peaks of Mts Dun Fiunary, Ferintosh and Glentanner. The northern face of Dun Fiunary holds some excellent looking couloirs for ski mountaineers, as do the southerly faces off Ferintosh and Glentanner. It would be possible to find access out of Whale Stream and into Stewart Stream to the West, as well as Jacks Stream to the south. So there is plenty to do up there, and given the ease of heli access, it might do to make a camp for a couple of days.

View Larger Topographic Map
We did this tour as a day trip. Flights were from Glentanner. The quote was for 380$ for the helicopter which seats 6 with day packs and skis, which equates to about 65$ each. Expect more cost with a greater load. We also took advantage of the helicopter to fly out. The other option is to walk out via Whale Stream to the road. The stream bed is public land according to WAMS (Walking Access Mapping System; www.wams.org.nz ). We found good cellphone coverage on the ridges and in the South branch from about 1700m.

Glentanner helicopter service is The Helicopter Line, 03 435 1801.

These photos are from mid September 2017 in a good snow year.

]]>Sutherland Stream, Dobson Valley, Naumann Rangehttp://skitouring.co.nz/sutherland-stream-dobson-valley/
Tue, 12 Sep 2017 10:18:44 +0000http://skitouring.co.nz/?p=2410Read More]]>Sutherland Stream is a truly stunning and spectacular valley. Hemmed in by steep walls there are couloirs galore for ski mountaineers, and a relatively safe route up to the Mt Ben Ross col for ski tourers. There are superb views of the east face of Mts Glenmary and Glencairn, and views of Mt Cook from at the col 2302.

Access is via the Dobson Valley at the head of Lake Ohau. The access road, Station Hut and the valley are private property. All the western side of the Ben Ohau Range as well as the entire alpine section of the Neumann Range (including Mts Glenmary, Ben Ross, Glencairn) are private property and owned by Glen Lyon Station. This means that access is strictlyby permission only. Permission must be obtained before proceeding from Lake Ohau. Please do not rock up and ask to go ski touring. Glen Lyon Station manages many hunting blocks in the valley so please recognise that access may be denied for this reason. Glen Lyon Station: PO Box11 Twizel (03)438 9644. Best to call after the news at 7pm.

The access road from the Homestead to Station Hut is an easy grade and straightforward. The last 4 kilometres gets rugged. In order to drive to the hut a 4WD is required with good ground clearance, off road tyres and a low range gearbox. A diff lock is preferable but a LSD might make it depending on the conditions. The Station hutbook has many stories of folks coming a cropper. Mountain biking might be a good way to cover the last 4 ks. Station Hut is well situated, clean, has a fireplace and bunks for 10.

The Dobson in normal flows in winter is an easy cross with water below knee deep, and has much less flow than its cousin, the Hopkins river. Sutherland stream is relatively easy going, open, with fine gravels turning to small bouldery stream bed as the valley ascends. There are grassy banks on the TR which help with travel higher up. The Sutherland was choked by several very large avalanche flows from a previous storm cycle. They were maybe up to 20m deep. Allow 2 hours of easyish travel from the hut to the snowline which should be about 1200m.

We took a line up the valley that offered relatively safe travel up the valley, past the frozen tarns at 1900m, and on to the Col at 2302m. This took around 3 hours from putting the skins on. From here we skied back down our ascent line, however there are many many more options to ski. Take your pick.

Another possible option that I have not done, might be to carry on from the col at Ben Ross, past pt 2362 and ski down the Jamieson Valley. I have been told it holds good snow as it faces south. This would make a wonderful (and long) loop route back to the hut. I might have to go back and do this..

I would not recommend heading down to the west into the Hopkins Valley towards Red Hut. The terrain is hard going with dense bush and bluffs (but the Red Hut Stream is good for canyoning ..)

]]>Mt Bonplandhttp://skitouring.co.nz/mt-bonpland/
Tue, 05 Sep 2017 08:41:19 +0000http://skitouring.co.nz/?p=2394Read More]]>By Joel O’Rourke – Bon-what? Yeah, I said the same thing. A quick google search reveals it’s a mountain near the Routeburn Track behind Glenorchy. There is a small glacier (Bryant Glacier) that hangs above the valley and two couloir, one to the north and one to the south of the peak. Given the recent warm weather, heavy rainfall and perhaps, not overly solid freeze, I decided to try my luck on the Northern Couloir which is protected from the sun.

Two hours of hiking up from 300m road level, through dense forest an finally alpine grass and riverbed, I arrived snow line (1100m). Still a long way to go to 2300m ridge line. Many hours later, and I crossed the glacier and crampon’d up the couloir.

The top of the couloir is damn steep, combined with just barely edge able crust it was an ‘exciting’ descent. Good day and very close to my goal of getting back to 2000 vertical metre days.

On Wednesday, August 2nd, my friend Jamie Paterson and I set off into the Macaulay Valley to stay in the Macaulay Hut for a couple of nights. The weather forecast looked very promising and so did the snowpack. Our goal was to ski/snowboard some interesting looking lines around Macaulay Hut. With some objectives in mind, we parked the car at the end of Lilybank Road behind a shed, packed our stuff, crossed the Macaulay River and soon found ourselves skinning up the flat valley. It’s a total of 18km to the hut from Lilybank where the snow was about 50cm deep. It was almost 1m at Macaulay Hut. We weren’t rushing it and with a one-hour lunch break at the remains of Stony Stream Hut (consisting only of a concrete fireplace), it took us 6 hours to get to the hut.

For Thursday, we decided to climb an unnamed peak (Peak 2124m) from which we would have a good view of the area and Mount Sibbald. The weather was just perfect without the slightest breeze. We took a lot of pictures, scanned the area and enjoyed fluffy powder up high, less so the firmly frozen avalanche debris down below. Already on our way up, we opted for doing Mount Sibbald the next day.

On Friday morning, we left the hut one hour before sunrise, skinned the flat 3km to the Upper Tindill Stream at a good pace and could soon enjoy the view of the east face of Mount Sibbald, dipped in gorgeous colours by the rising sun. We could see the winding lower part of the Diagonal Couloir and its narrow exit. It looked to be in pretty good condition. We were stoked. However, since we couldn’t see the couloir’s middle section (which faces south and can hardly be viewed from the skin-up route) and had seen a huge crown wall of a wind slab avalanche above the couloir’s entrance, some question marks remained. The higher we climbed the deeper the powder. The normal route was certainly in prime conditions. Having reached the col, we turned left and skinned up the ridge and the north facing summit slopes to the middle peak. We took in the great views of all the surrounding famous mountains like Mount Cook and Elli de Beaumont. Even Mount Aspiring was visible in the distance and so was the sea on the west coast. After our summit break we got ready for the descent. Although we could have easily skied down from the middle peak and traversed the east face to reach the entrance of the couloir, we decided to ski the north facing slopes from the summit to a huge crag, behind which we climbed up 20m to the ridge. On the eastside below the ridge we dug a pit and tested a surprisingly stable snowpack. I snowboarded down to the 1m high crown wall we had spotted from below, jumped it and surfed through epic powder to a ridge, skier’s right of the couloir’s wide entrance. Jamie followed my line with a broad smile on his face. After the entrance the snow was harder due to its northerly aspect and at the steepest section of the couloir (50°) it was very icy. When jump turning in that section the edges of the skis/snowboard made ear-piercing sounds almost like kittens in a blender. Hence, we skied very slowly and cautiously for the next 100m until the snow got softer. From there the line changes to an easterly aspect, becoming mellower (40 – 45°) and narrower. To ride that section was pure joy! At the end of the couloir we had to jump over a 1m high frozen ‘waterfall’ and eventually skied back to Macauley Hut to call it a day.

To my knowledge, the Diagonal Couloir has been skied by a few people since its first descent in 2014. Whether it has been snowboarded before, I haven’t found out. In any case, it’s a very aesthetic, long, steep and worthwhile descent from Mount Sibbald. However, one needs to know exactly where the entrance of the couloir is-other lines on that face end in bluffs.

On Saturday, we wanted to ski the SSE face of another unnamed peak (Peak 2228m) close to Macaulay Hut. The weather was perfect for the third day in a row and we picked a route up the east ridge using crampons and ice axes. The ridge itself was pretty straightforward and we had good fun digging through the snow. The SSE face of that nameless peak was in good condition that day. It’s 40° max. and it offers a descent of more than 800m vert gradually getting mellower until reaching the stream at the bottom. It’s possible to continue the descent down to the Macaulay Valley. However, due to a nasty crust, Jamie and I climbed about 200m up to a nearby col after our 800m descent and rode down on the other side of the col back to the hut. On Sunday, it rained and we slept in. At noon, we skinned the 18km back to the car and enjoyed the rest of the evening in the spa of Tekapo Springs. What a wee trip!

New Zealand’s mountains have waived goodbye to the extended sunshine and has developed a serious melancholy; the doldrums of drizzle, cloud and humidity have set in. Whilst waiting for the inevitable return of consistent good weather the forecast came through with a Saturday of partly cloudy (and no rain!) and plans came together to walk in on Friday evening to the Routeburn Flats Hut and then set out early Saturday for a big day climbing up the Somnus Couloir to the summit of Somnus.

Two hours of walking from the Routeburn car-park placed us at Routeburn Flats Hut for a few hours of sleep before awaking at 4:45am to get ready and leave by 5:30am to start the trek up the North Branch of the Routeburn track to the base of the Somnus Couloir. The Routeburn track itself is a small road that runs through the mountains, well marked, well maintained… The north branch track is what could be described as ‘loosely marked’ and ‘difficult to follow’. After a couple of hours of difficult travel in the dark, the light started to break for the day and we were close to the bottom of the couloir (thank god).

Another boots off river crossing (this would be number 2 of 4 for the day) and the ascent up through the grass and riverbeds to the base of the giant Somnus Couloir. It ascends as a couloir some 900 (!) vertical metres up the mountainside and opens up access to the glacial plateau at the top and the comparatively small knob of the summit of Somnus mountain.

A long crampon up the couloir with the morning light starting to work on the hanging snow and ice on the rock walls meant we got to experience a few large (and loud) collapses into the couloir that caused no substantive avalanche (as the snow in the couloir was already well pounded – and somewhat icy) but caused large sums of small to medium chunks of ice and snow to cascade down the couloir. Luckily, every one of the collapses occurred below us, it appears we had timed this perfectly as 20 minutes later we could have been in the crosshairs.

Reaching the glacial plateau at the top of the couloir was a relief as we got to have a small break at some flat ground and assess the final stage of climbing for the day – climbing up to the summit of Mount Somnus.

Unfortunately, the clouds started to roll in a bit as we reached the summit but with no time to spare, given the long walk back to the hut and then car-park, there was only one thing to do, ski down.

Photos do lie somewhat, the snow, for the most part in the couloir, was firm and there were certainly some hesitant turns and efforts to push thoughts of falling and sliding away.

Unfortunately, that’s not the end of the effort for the day, a long walk back to the Routeburn Flats Hut and then another couple of hours back to the car park makes for a memorable, albeit, very tiring ski.

]]>Camp Stream from Roundhill ski field -Two Thumb Rangehttp://skitouring.co.nz/camp-stream-from-roundhill-ski-field-two-thumb-range/
Sun, 06 Aug 2017 10:27:39 +0000http://skitouring.co.nz/?p=2323Read More]]>Once or twice a winter, a strong Easterly or South Easterly front pushes snow into the McKenzie Basin. Snow falls to low levels, often affecting SH8, and leaves Mt Cook Village and Tekapo township with 20cm of snow on the ground. When this event happens it is time to head into the Two Thumb Range. There is the saying ‘winds from the east, three days at least’. So if there is an easterly day of storm conditions it may well be followed by gentler easterlies and good ski conditions. Cold clear skies and morning easterly cloud will mean ice cold conditions in Camp Stream (which is somewhat of an ice box) and you may well find the valley full of squeaky dry powder.

The most expeditious access is from the Roundhill Ski Field. This road is private and owned by the ski field, so it is important to be back at the car before 5pm. The land on either side of the road above the 900m mark is public conservation land. Should you wish to overnight at Camp Stream Hut, or at Royal Hut, and wish to leave you car at the Roundhill car park, you must request permission of Ski Patrol or ski field management.

There is also public access from Mt Gerald Station. This passes up and over to Camp Stream via Rex Simpson Hut. However, for a day trip, this is route would be considered too circuitous and long. The distance from the road is far enough from decent ski-able terrain to preclude a day trip. So that route is really only suitable for multi- day trips. (But, there are wallabies on that route, which is kinda cool..)

The beauty of the access to Camp Stream from Roundhill is that within 15 minutes from the road (given good snow) one can be in Camp Stream with a multitude of ski touring objectives at hand. There are multiple aspects, ridges and faces to ski with easy to moderate terrain. The route in from Roundhill Ski Field follows the Te Araroa walking trail. Do note that this access point faces north, and the snow can heat up during the day, so bear this in mind.

The route out retraces one’s steps, or, alternatively, ski out to the road, to join the Coal River Easement near Mt Gerald Station. For more information and details on this easement, review Walking Access NZ’s web page www.wams.org.nz

Another ‘loop’ option is to tour up Camp Stream, over Stag Saddle, and down to Royal hut, to return via a different valley. The best snow conditions for this might be when the snow is firm and fast. In soft conditions or deep powder, a lot of pushing and polling may be required to get down the reasonably gentle valleys.

On Monday 3 July Jamie Paterson and I set off for an explore, with the intention of getting to Manuka Hut. Due to a number of factors, namely work and not having a 4 wheel drive we ended having to walk about 45 mins further and arriving at 2:00am. The walk in is very straightforward, except for the muddy bogs and a little hill.

On Tuesday 4 July Jamie Paterson and I set off to have a look at The Fingers and surrounds. We started at 8:27 am which was a little too late in retrospect. We had to neg a little hill and then walk to the snowline which was around 1300m or so. Jamie was fitter than me having 2nd quickest in the 400m in Scotland for his age group and was also an accomplished trail runner. Some slow transitions by me, a patch of steep skin track and also nearly losing my water bottle didn’t help my cause. I had a great time though, there were stunning views. We thought an axe and crampons might be needed but it was deceptively not that steep.

Somewhat scarily, there was a the remnants of huge 200m x 20m x 30cm avy from the last big snow fall. Jamie dug a good pit and a compression test and it wasn’t going to slide. There was a thin lawyer of soft snow followed by a hard rain crust followed by soft snow. I had rung Methven heli ski and he basically said the same thing and was exceedingly helpful.

Stupidly using my under-gloves and forgetting my touring gloves my hands froze near the top. Jamie gave me a hand and we set off down around 5pm with head torches on. Having not carried a heavy pack in a while my quads were absolutely shot and I found myself snowplowing to parallel while Jamie cranked turn after turn for 700m vertical.

The cover was thin everywhere, even at 2100m yours skis broke through the crust into bits of rock which knocked you off balance. We went down without incident to 1300m, took off skis and then walked in ski boots . I found MTN labs brilliant for the walk to the boot change over. I slept well after 13 hours of walking including a bit of type 3 fun where we climbed up 5 feet and walked in some thorn trees.

Met a cool guy the next day who was a guide in Mt Cook in the 70’s. Notable quotes were ‘My longest day was 25 hours’ and ‘we used to test people by putting them into a whiteout’. He had a really cool Surly fat-bike.

I got a lot from the experience, including the need to practice my kick turns , better gloves and a new set of lungs.

All in all a cracking day. 11/10

Mitchell

]]>Sawyer Stream ski tour from Annette Plateau, Mt Cook N.P.http://skitouring.co.nz/sawyer-stream-ski-tour-from-annette-plateau-mt-cook-n-p/
Mon, 26 Jun 2017 03:18:56 +0000http://skitouring.co.nz/?p=2241Read More]]>This tour was recently described as the ‘King of ski tours from Mt Cook’ . A classic day ski trip in Mount Cook National Park. The views are spectacular and the skiing superb. Its a long tour with route finding needed and also some tramping, so superior fitness is required.

An earlish start is required to give yourself plenty of time, as the route takes around 10 hours to complete.

The first hour and a half is on an interminable stair case built by someone with a longer stride than mine. Apparently there are 1367 stairs. Take lightweight tramping/hiking shoes for this (you will also need them for the exit. They need good grip). It is over an hour of exhaustion to the top of the stairs. The snow line is often around the height of the Sealy Tarns (approx 1200-1300m mark). There is usually a skin trail from here, and it is popular for tourers to ski laps on these sunny slopes. The route is straight forward to Mueller hut, but beware of frozen patches and slide for life conditions early or late in the day. Allow about 2- 3 hours to Mueller Hut from Mount Cook Village (MCV), depending on how you do on the steps. Mueller Hut has water and cookers, but no pots.

From Mueller Hut head south on the slopes facing the Mueller Glacier . We found it necessary to transition and make short ski descents under both Mts Oliver and Kitchener. It might well be possible to avoid the transitions by keeping lower.

The slope angle is easy, but a word of caution; if the snow is frozen, an uncontrolled slide could have dire consequences. The benches leading up to the Annette Plateau are exposed as they drop over cliffs onto the Mueller Glacier. With the terrain being relatively low angle it is too easy to become complacent. Allow 2 hours from Mueller Hut to Annette Plateau.

You will need a topomap and or compass and GPS to make sure you find the correct entrance to Sawyers Stream. It is not completely obvious from Annette Plateau, but having said that, with a map and good visibility it can be figured out expeditiously.

Once the top of Sawyers Stream has been found it is still not obvious how to enter/start the ski descent as the slope rolls/bulges over. There is a broken crevassed area to the centre, which could be negotiated but also could prove problematic. A good descent option is to the skiers right with straight forward access. Another option is to the skiers left which is steep (35-40 degrees) and holds great corn snow. But beware there is a cliff band near the bottom which must be passed on skiers right, cutting back towards the bottom of the central ice bulge. This is a little trickier entrance but the skiing is superb.

Once the entrance has been made, there are multiple gullies, faces, couloirs and possibilities to ski. Most of the descent routes ‘go’, but a few might be dead ends. So best to scope the route from the road or photos before setting out.

The skiing is continuous fall line with an average slope > 30 degrees, and is around 1100m vertical. Obviously this route is conditions dependent. It holds beautiful, velvety corn snow in spring (September), and would be spectacular in powder. But in hard crust or icy conditions it could be ones’ nemesis.

At the end of the snow, take the ski boots off, take a break and look up at the magnificent headwall you just skied. Have good rest before starting the tramp out of the valley. Follow incipient animal trails on the true right, about 20-40 vertical metres above the stream bed. Good lightweight hiking shoes are more than recommended.

It is not possible to descend the stream entirely, and an exit from Sawyers Stream must be made before it turns into a canyon (See the guidebook Canyoning in New Zealand by Daniel Clearwater, Sawyers Stream v4A3II**).

There are 2 options for exiting Sawyers Stream:

A)True right.

The canyoning teams use this route access the canyon via steep tussock slopes with some exposure. Its the quickest way to the valley floor and is good if you are heading back to the airport.

B)True Left.

This route goes directly to MCV via Sebastopol tarns and track. The exit point is shown on the map and accompanying photos. Looking up at the route, ascend just to the right of the scree slope. The vegetation is surprisingly sparse and the going is easier than it looks. It took us 20 minutes to exit from the stream bed. From the saddle follow tussock benches along to the Sebastopol track. Allow 2 hours from taking skis off to arriving at MCV.

Further notes:

*I recommend carrying an ice axe, crampons and a larger pack to fit all the stuff in.

*Allow 6 hours from MCV to the top of Sawyers Stream/ Annette Plateau.

*Another exit from Sawyers Stream is via the Hoophorn Stream. I have not researched this.

*Another option is to fly into Barron Saddle, then ski down the Mueller Glacier to ascend back up to Annette Plateau.

]]>Black Peak to Treble Cone via Poolnoon Burnhttp://skitouring.co.nz/black-peak-to-treble-cone-via-poolnoon-burn/
Wed, 07 Jun 2017 08:35:51 +0000http://skitouring.co.nz/?p=2197Read More]]>A superior ski tour from Black Peak back to Treble Cone Ski Field is via the Poolnoon Burn. This makes a good long day ski tour using Heli access from Cattle Flat, flying to the summit of Black Peak (Aspiring Helicopters -(03) 443- 7152. The cost should be around $100 mark for the one way trip.

The route is self evident. The ridge leading SW from the summit of Black peak can be wind stripped, firm, and a little bit exposed. Gentle easy skiing slopes lead onto the Poolnoon Burn. Good powder can be found on the south facing aspects. A quick uphill brings one back onto the ridge above the West Branch of Blue Creek.

The most interesting skiing part of the tour is the ski descent down into the West Branch, which has some lovely gullies, a bowl and some short steeps. This area holds snow well and in good condition.

Coming out of the West Branch of Blue Creek is best tackled on the true left, and takes longer than expected. The stream banks are steep near water, and so it is best to keep to benches just above the stream.

Have a look at the map for the best route out of Blue Creek, back to TC. There is a ridge that leads down from just west of pt 2006 which gives difficulty, as is the ridge leading down from pt 1920. So best to attack the slopes back up to TC from where the 2 streams converge. Expect around 6 hours for the tour.

Black Peak-Poolnoon-TC

]]>-44.6147308 168.8819733Mt Ferguson, Queenstown ski touring…http://skitouring.co.nz/mt-ferguson-queenstown-ski-touring/
Thu, 04 May 2017 09:58:51 +0000http://skitouring.co.nz/?p=2164Read More]]>Mt Ferguson is a day trip ski tour out from Queenstown. Its a valley/basin ski, with some really good views out to Mt Earnslaw, as well as Centaur Peaks, (which incidentally look like they would be a stellar ski). The route up Mt. Ferguson is not difficult and suitable for intermediate skiers with some tramping/hiking background.

The access is via the Rees Valley. Any car can make it as far as Muddy Creek; a little clearance is required to make it further.

Ascend via Arthurs Creek which has easy access on the true right of the creek. The first 15 to 20 minutes are not so flash, with some scrub bashing with skis for about ten minutes. Fortunately the terrain quickly opens up allowing easy hiking, following sheep trails, up to around the 1100m mark where the Ferguson Valley starts. From here it should be possible to start skiing. Allow about an hour and a half from the valley floor until it is possible to put skis on.

The Valley starts off open and wide with easy skinning, but it chokes down and becomes narrow and steep sided between the 1300 – 1400m mark approx. One option is to keep low in the stream bed, another is to traverse the sides. This section is a little slow and novices should be aware, if traversing above a creek on icy slopes, that there are consequences of sliding at speed into a rocky stream bed. Generally it is best here to keep to the true left.

The valley quickly opens up again and travel is best on the true left, with easy sunny slopes slowly leading up the valley, eventually to the summit ridge of Mt Ferguson. There are many options to get to this point; the col between pts 2420 and 2480 offer easy access. Allow about 5 hours to here from the valley floor.

The ski down is on sunny easy to moderate slopes in a large basin. Quite good snow is held on these west facing slopes, and can form some very nice corn snow. The slopes are moderate and perfect for newcomers to adventure touring.

Another option is to fly up there from Glenorchy (www.heliglenorchy.co.nz 0800 435 449) but the terrain is somewhat limited and not overly spectacular, and so might not be worth the $$$ . Generally I would suggest it is more interesting as a tour .

Note that this route is on private land and so permissions should be sought from the landowner Rees Valley Station. The Ferguson basin and valley is also used for heli skiing, during which time access may not be granted.